Genre Theory and Evolution of Records and Recordkeeping
Delve into the evolution of records and recordkeeping practices in the United States, as discussed in Jane Zhang's SAA 2018 Research Forum presentation. Gain insights into how genres have shaped the development of recordkeeping over time, providing a valuable perspective on the intersection of theory and practice in this critical field.
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Presentation Transcript
Genre Theory and Evolution of Records and Recordkeeping in the United States Jane Zhang, Catholic University of America SAA 2018 Research Forum, Washington DC, August 14, 2018
Genre: History, Theory, and Research - Genre theory introduced in the 1980s Expansion of definitions and analysis models - Bawarshi, Anis S. and Mary Jo Reiff. Genre: An Introduction to History, Theory, Research, and Pedagogy. Parlor Press, 2010 Genre as dynamic discursive formations used to carry out particular social activities, language practices, and interpersonal relations
Broad Applications - Literary genre traditions Poetry, prose, drama Tragedy, comedy, romance - Cultural and media genre traditions Introduction of printing Rise of popular media and non-literary genres Various kinds of writing, talking, painting, filming, and acting A powerful tool to help the public make sense out of unpredictable art and media
Broad Applications - Linguistic genre traditions Systemic functional linguistics ( Sydney school of genre theory) English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Pedagogical implications of genres - Rhetorical Genre Studies (RGS) Shift the emphasis of genre study from the communicative actions to the social actions Genres are created through social constructs Professional and workplace genres
Records and Archives As Social Action - Fiorella Foscarini Rhetorical genre studies (RGS) provides a powerful theoretical framework for investigating organizational records as typified social action - Heather MacNeil Examine the social actions that finding aids participate in and accomplish and the ways in which these descriptive texts work to construct a community of writers and readers
Professional Genre Studies - Historical investigations of professional genres to illustrate how such genres evolve in relation to changes in social context and cultural ideology - JoAnne Yates Control through Communication (1989) Examined the developing genres of internal communication and the shared characteristics of form and function of documents like reports and memos (1880-1920) Historical study that has had the most impact on professional genre studies
Five major records genres emerged historically in the United States. Each represents a major development of records and recordkeeping practice in a certain time period in the history of the United States.
Major Records Genres - Book form records: Pre-colonial - 19thcentury - Paper file records: 19thcentury - 20thcentury - Special media records: mid-19thcentury - 20th century - Data centric records: early 20thcentury - - Electronic/digital records: late 20thcentury -
Each records genre has its development history - a life of its own. Records genres evolving over time, embedded into each other, and some technology can transcend multiple records genres.
Bound Volumes & Loose Paper Records - Massachusetts Colonial Papers Apart from colonial meeting proceedings, which were recorded in prebound books, the Massachusetts colonial papers remained loose in files, packages, or bundles until 1836, when the Reverend Joseph B. Felt, by order of the General Court, was appointed to arrange, mount, and bind them. - Papers of the Continental Congress In spite of the progress made in copying records into bound books, some of the Old Congress papers were still maintained as loose papers in the early nineteenth century. By November 1834, individual papers had been mounted in blank books and generated volumes containing the mounted documents .
Data Centric Records - Logbooks, in the form of tables, previously used for accounting, and adopted in the seventeenth century to record observations of sea voyages. - Index cards filed systematically to record data centric records in the late 19thto mid-20thcenturies - Since the second half of the 20thcentury, data archives and data centers began converting and formatting data to enable analysis using computer technology.
Genre-based approach views records, recordkeeping, and archives as interconnected systems, and studies the impact of records and recordkeeping practice on the formation of archival systems.
Genre-based Archival Systems - 18th-19thcentury bound volumes - Manuscript indexes; card indexes; computer-assisted indexes - 20thcentury loose paper file archives - Multi-level hierarchical organization and description - 20thcentury media archives, data archives, digitalized archives - Collection organization and access built on database, XML, and linked data technologies - 21stcentury electronic and born digital archives - Web archiving, email archiving, electronic records on portable media, computational archival science (CAS)
Significance of the Study - Archival practice Multi-media archival collections in modern archives Textual, photographic, audio-visual, cartographic, digitized, electronic and born digital - Archival education Digital natives lack of personal experience with traditional media and records genres The knowledge of which should be built into archival curriculum as archival foundation knowledge
AERI 2014 Thank You Jane Zhang @ Catholic University of America zhangj@cua.edu
